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Shaman (Class Guide)
Author: Anaku Thinking of playing a healer, but the idea of harvesting still beating hearts from your dying victims on a warm summer evening strikes you as a bit grotesque? Not a big fan of standing around casting heals on yourself waiting for your opponent to finally die of malnutrition while trying to bash your skull in? Are you a little too dirty to join the monastery and take vows of celibacy and poverty? Who can really blame you? Well my friend there is another option! Take a wild walk into the spirit world and serve as an intermediary for your spirit god! Become the walking representation of your master in the physical plane and run free as the wolf, garner the strength of the bear or harness the raw power of the flame. Master the art of manipulating finite life while striking fear into your enemies. Take a spirit walk today and learn to wield the might of the Shaman! The Vanguard Shaman is versatile and flexible with powerful buffing abilities, strong healing skills, solid damage capabilities, and excellent survivability. One very important thing to note before you go plunging headfirst into the fray, the Shaman as it stands today is very adept at healing groups, raids, or single targets while also being capable of dealing excellent damage but unlike Bloodmages or Disciples, the Shaman is very rarely able to excel at both simultaneously. Right now a Shaman must always choose which role they wish to serve, maximum healing or maximum DPS, but to attempt to do both together will almost always result in sub par skill at both. There are three different Spirit Godâ€™s or Patrons from which to choose (at level 15), Hayatet the Phoenix, master of fire, Rakurr the wolf, cunning and deadly, and Tuurgin the bear, strong and sturdy. All three paths have their advantages, unique skills and buffs and individual gifts given to them by their patrons. All three types of Shaman have their drawbacks as well, but as they stand today, the Tuurgin Shaman is the most complete. That is not to say that they are â€œbetterâ€ than the other two, they just have a more complete and functional skill set. None of the Shaman patrons are perfect and one day perhaps they will all get the fixes they were promised long ago, but that is another story for another time, all three are perfectly capable of performing their roles in an exemplary fashion. One thing that is universal among the Shaman is healing. There are no real differences in healing style, spells, or abilities between patrons, except perhaps one or two â€œextraâ€ features that may be covered later. Generally speaking the differences between patrons all exist in the form of buffs, offensive abilities and patron â€œskinâ€ / pet abilities. While they are cute and cuddly and oodles of fun, because of the costs of using them, Shaman pets are generally counterproductive unless the Shaman is in a solo or very small group situation. Relatively speaking, Shaman pets are more or less on par with Ranger pets, except that Shaman pets have special attacks, making them slightly more powerful. The problem lies not in that Shaman pets are too weak, but that the Shaman loses entirely too much functionality by choosing to have a pet rather than be in patron form. Advantages of patron form for each Shaman will be listed later. Well, enough of the summary, letâ€™s get started! First weâ€™ll talk about the basics, the bread and butter of a Shaman, healing abilities! Shaman have 4 main types of heals, direct heals, reactive heals, wards, and status heals. Reactive heals and wards are meant to be the Shamanâ€™s unique way of healing and class defining. Direct Heals are straight up heals that cost X amount of energy to heal for Y hit points. Shaman have three types of direct heals, smaller faster casting heals, larger heals that take longer to cast but heal for much greater amounts and are more mana efficient to sustain, and a group heal that is expensive and long casting but heals all group members within 10 meters for a substantial amount. Remedy (VII) â€“ a small heal on a single defensive target. 620 energy, 1.5s cast, heals for 1671 Restoration (VI) â€“ a large heal on a single defensive target. 632 energy, 3.0s cast, heals for 2989 Ancestorâ€™s Gift â€“ restores a significant amount of HP to all party members within 10M 1186 energy, 4.5s cast, 10s refresh Reactive Heals originally were wards that applied a certain amount of proactive healing to the defensive target that would remain until the specified amount of healing was done or until a fairly long timer ran out. These heals have since been change to include a heal up front with a reactive portion at the end. The single target version has a significantly reduced duration and can not be applied to the Shaman that cast the spell. The group reactive heal has a longer duration but is a much smaller heal. There are two other heals that are combination reactive/ward heals that will be included with wards. Aegis of Life (III) â€“ restores a large amount of HP to a single target then heals as damage is taken until maximum healing is reached or 10 seconds expires. 808 energy, heals for 3278 then 1200/attack until 4800 Life Ward (V) - restores a moderate amount of HP to all party members within 10M then heals as damage is taken until maximum healing is reached. 556 energy, heals for 1093 (instant) then 500/attack until 1500 Wards are generally considered to be rune abilities which are often modified by any buffs that increase rune effectiveness. Shaman Wards typically block damages of certain types for a specified length of time. There are basically 4 different wards for Shaman, 2 of which are the reactive wards mentioned above and the other two are specific wards that are outstanding on paper but are extremely difficult to use due to the complete lack of any spell identification ability for a shaman. What good is a 6 second ward that blocks all spiritual damage when you have no way to know when a mob is casting a spell, let alone a spiritual based spell? Panacea (IV) â€“ instantly heals defensive target for 972 and wards off incoming attacks for 4 seconds. 100 percent diminishing returns for 30 seconds. 556 energy, 30 second refresh Intercession (III) â€“ wards off 60% of incoming damage for all party members within 10M for 5 seconds then heals the party for 1743. 1303 energy, 2 minute refresh *Shield of Mortality â€“ blocks all incoming Physical damage on the defensive target for 6seconds. 109 energy, 100percent diminishing returns for 2 minutes, 2m refresh.* *Shield of Spirits â€“ blocks all incoming spiritual damage on the defensive target for 6 seconds, 100 percent diminishing returns for 2 minutes, 2m refresh* * these spells are nearly useless, situational at best because Shaman have NO SPELL IDENTIFICATIONâ€¦at all! Status Heals are heals that remove harmful status effects. For a shaman there are three such effects that can be removed, Poison, Disease, and Curse, with Shaman being one of only three jobs that can remove curses consistently and effectively, making them a valuable part of any raid. Purge (IV) â€“ removes a greater poison and greater disease from the defensive target. 210 energy, 2 second cast Remove Curse (III) â€“ removes a greater curse from the defensive target 286 energy, 2 second cast Wardship of Krigus â€“ removes a greater poison and a greater disease from all party members within 10M. 385 energy, group spell. All the heal numbers listed are the base heal amounts. With maximum healing focus and in healing stance the actual heal amounts are much larger. For instance, Restoration VI typically heals for 5300 or more when Daphna is in healing stance. In a raid situation with a disciple present, it can easily land closer to the 6000 range. Aegis of Life III typically hits for over 5k direct heal before the reactive heal kicks in. Numbers will vary from Shaman to Shaman based on healing focus, stance, and of course build. A Shaman that neglects VIT will notice the difference in a raid situation. Debuffs â€“ Shaman only have 2 real direct debuffs, while they have many melee abilities and offensive spells that include debuffs, there are only 2 pure debuffs, 3 if you include root. It is important to note that both major debuffs are Physical based spells that may not be wise to use against mobs that are healed by physical damage. Curse of Frailty (III) â€“ 321 energy, lowers the spiritual, arcane, and physical resistances of the offensive target by 192 each for 5 minutes. (Physical Alteration) Lethargy (V) â€“ reduces the attack speed of the offensive target by 24% for 2 minutes, 321 energy, 2 second cast. Grasp of Goromund (III) â€“ roots the offensive target for 50s, damage may break root Buffs â€“ Shaman buffs are some of the most desired buffs around, but there are buffs that all Shaman get and others that are patron specific. I will list the stats of the buffs only by their highest version since Shaman â€œdroppedâ€ buffs are generally available at a training totem anymore. Any young Shaman should be able to determine which buff correlates to the buffs they have in their spell books. General Shaman Buffs â€“ highest version of these typically named â€œGift ofâ€¦â€ and unless otherwise noted all buffs are applied to the defensive targetâ€™s party members/ Infusion (of Spirit) â€“ increases HP by 560, and adds 168 to Armor Class. Oracleâ€™s Sight (Gift of) â€“ increases energy by 634 and reduces spell cast by 20% Spirit of Rakurr â€“ increases run speed by 40%, mounted speed by 5% Boon of Bosrid â€“ heals for 60 HP every 6 seconds, 1 hour duration (this is the only ticking heal of any kind a Shaman gets) Boon of Alcipus â€“ Levitate, single target (gift of = group) Boon of Boboqol - single target underwater breathing Patron Specific buffs â€“ each patron has unique buffs, with only Rakurr lacking a strong class defining buff. Hayatet Acuity (Gift of) - +70 INT, +117 energy regen/6 seconds. Burning Mantle (Mantle of the Phoenix) â€“ increases fire resistance, adds a fire damage shield and 10% fire absorption Boon of Hayatet â€“ adds a 25% chance to proc 72-80 fire damage on melee attacks. Purging Flames â€“ a short term (15 minute) single target buff that procs the shaman ability â€œpurgeâ€ every 6 seconds. Essentially this is a ticking poison/disease removal. Fiery Shield â€“ 100% fire absorption for 12 seconds with a large single target damage shield. Avatar of the Phoenix (self only) â€“ immunity to fire damage, increases all outgoing fire damage by 50%, regens 2983 HP over 1 minute. 15 minute recast. Rakurr Speed of Rakurr (Gift of) â€“ increases run speed by 62%, mounted speed by 12% Rakurrâ€™s Grace (Gift of) - +93 DEX, 25% increase to melee attack speed, 7% chance to crit with melee or ranged attacks Boon of Rakurr - +5% melee evasion and +5% dodge Avatar of the Hunter (self only) â€“ immunity to spiritual damage, +50% to all outgoing damage, +10% evasion and reduces hate generated by melee attacks by 10% for 1 minute. 15 Minute recast. Tuurgin Tuurginâ€™s Vigor (Superior) - +17 Endurance regen every 6 secs, 17% reduction to endurance costs Rage of Tuurgin (Gift or Fury) - +98 STR and CON, and +10% melee dmg Coat of the Great bear (Warmth) â€“ increases cold resistance and absorbs 10% of cold damage Avatar of the Great Bear (self only) â€“ Immunity to cold damage, +50% melee dmg, +20% melee mitigation, adds a chance to strike twice with all melee special attacks for 1 minute. 15 minute refresh Frenzy - +50% to all melee dmg, +25% melee mitigation, adds a chance to attack twice with all melee special attacks for 1 minute. Ok, so at this point you know what your heals are, you know how to buff your party and you should be able to cast your debuffs, so now you want to start inflicting a little damage, where to start? Spells â€“ There are 5 spell attacks plus 2 finishers that all Shaman get. Tuurgin get an extra direct damage spell, while Hayatet Shaman get 3 extra spell attacks including an area effect spell, plus an additional debuff and a nice spell finisher. General â€“ usable by all patrons Spirit Strike (VIII) â€“ deals 442 â€“ 468 spiritual damage and reduces Spiritual resist by 158, shaken, chilled Bane of Krigus (IV) â€“ this ability starts out under the name â€œFlesh Rotâ€ until level 32 when it becomes Bane of Krigus I. Deals 1703 â€“ 1794 dmg over 32 seconds. Hoarfrost (V) â€“ deals 881 â€“ 929 damage over 24 secs, reduces cold resist by 186 Winterâ€™s Roar (V) â€“ instantly deals 230 â€“ 244 cold dmg and roots the target for 3 seconds. Lethargic, burning Kiss of Nag-Suul deals 3857 â€“ 4058 physical dmg over 48 seconds. Gelid Blast (IV) â€“ cold finisher that deals 832 â€“ 878 cold dmg plus 834 â€“ 879 cold DoT/16 secs Umbra Burst (VI) â€“ spiritual finisher that deals 825 â€“ 871 spiritual dmg, Tuurgin only â€“ Deafening Roar â€“ Spell DD, -50% damage debuff to target for 10 seconds. 20 second refresh but 100% diminished returns for 2 minutes. Hayatet only Fire Claw (V) â€“ deals Fire DD + a DoT for 16 secs. Breath of Immolation (IV) â€“ deals fire DoT for 32 seconds. Firestorm (III) â€“ Area Effect instant cast fire damage to up to 6 targets, 10s. refresh. Ignite (III) â€“ Spell accuracy debuff, reduces fire resistance Phoenix Fury (II) â€“ spell finisher, fire DD, instant cast 30 sec. refresh. Melee Attacks â€“ There are 3 basic melee attacks that all Shaman get plus 2 melee finishers, with Tuurgin receiving 2 extra attacks and Rakurr gaining 5 extra attacks total including 1 hate reducer and 1 melee finisher. Bite of Nag-Suul (V) â€“ 292-312 dmg plus 3728 â€“ 3922 poison damage over 40 secs. Hammer of Krigus (V) â€“ deals 271 â€“ 289 dmg and reduces STR and CON by 100 for 60 seconds. Strike of Skamadiz (VI) â€“ deals 150% weapon dmg +139 â€“ 151, shaken, bleeding Fist of Earth (V) â€“ melee finisher that deals 300% weapon dmg + 260 â€“ 278 Spear of the Ancestors (III) â€“ melee finisher and learned ability that deals melee dmg + 267 and restores 40 Endurance over 4 seconds Tuurgin only Sundering Claw (IV) â€“ melee DoT that reduces melee mitigation by 15% Gnashing Bite (III) â€“ melee dmg +90 with a 40% healing debuff for 45 seconds Rakurr only Snarl (IV) â€“ ok, not really an attack, but limited to 5m melee range, reduces hate of the offensive target by 1157, 8 second refresh Tearing Claw (V) â€“ melee DoT over 20 seconds Vicious Bite (V) â€“ melee dmg +50, bonus dmg when attacking from behind, double dmg on crit Throat Rip (II) â€“ melee finisher that deals DoT for 32 seconds, with double damage on crit. Hamstring (III) â€“ Melee attack that deals damage with extra dmg on crit, causes all attacks on inflicted target to crit for 6 seconds. Raid wide effect, 2 minute refresh, 100% diminished returns for 60 seconds. Pet Abilities â€“ I may add a section breaking down the various pet abilities later, but am not including that currently. One important note on pet abilities is that to maximize damage with a pet a Shaman needs to know what abilities they use that cause weaknesses because a shamanâ€™s pet abilities are often increased significantly when they can exploit certain weaknesses. For example, a Rakurr pet has abilities that will exploit Bleeding, Rent Flesh, and Torn Throat Unions â€“ Shaman get 2 types of unions that are interesting ways for a Shaman to heal themselves should they get into trouble. Due to long refresh times (15 minutes) they can not be used consistently. Totemic Union â€“ when this is active 100% of the damage your pet inflicts will be returned to you as heals for 30 seconds. Spirit Union â€“ 50% of the damage your defensive target inflicts will be returned to you as healing for 30 seconds. This is a nice ability to have macroâ€™d for a heavy hitting DPSer for times when you draw unwanted agro on a raid. Be careful not to rely on unions too much though! Rituals â€“ Shaman get 2 Rituals that constitute the Shaman combat energy regeneration system. This system is cumbersome to say the least and if not managed properly can seriously hinder the Shamanâ€™s ability to main heal in a critical situation. With careful management it can be mastered to maintain oneâ€™s energy pool for great lengths of time. Due to the poor design of the system it can be frustrating and awkward, and depending on the role of the Shaman and the type of fight, it may not be successful. Fear not, the day will come when you do in fact kill yourself by using a Ritual. Rituals are often referred to as â€œcannibalizingâ€ because all those same EQ slackers that still call Psionicists Enchanters and Sorcerers Wizards are stuck to their old ways and will always remember the EQ terminology. Ritual of Sacrifice (IV) â€“ consumes 475 HP and restores 285 energy, 2 second refresh, 1 second cast, does not trigger GCD Ritual of Scarring â€“ consumes 3000 HP and restores 1500 energy, 2 minute refresh, 1 sec cast Best used in conjunction with Rituals is Bosridâ€™s Gift, which is a self only toggled buff that will consume 2 endurance per second to heal the Shaman for 392 HP every 4 seconds. When buffed and in healing stance this turns into a 5-600 ticking heal on the Shaman, allowing the Shaman to recover health after using rituals. Hayatet Shaman have the least use for endurance and should really have this buff on at all times. Tuurgin can use it fairly frequently while maintaining melee attacks due to their own endurance buff, but the Rakurr must pick and choose when to use this ability unless they are raid buffed and can spare the endurance drain. As a Rakurr I will be sure to use BG on mana intensive fights any time I am main healing or subject to mana drains, but for less heal intensive fights I make sure to click this off. Dropped Abilities â€“ There are dropped abilities for Shaman that are upgrades to current buffs, all of which are mentioned above and none of them are exceedingly rare, and then there are two special dropped short term buffs, both last 1 minute and have a 5 minute refresh. Avatar of the Mystic â€“ gives Defensive Target +100 INT/WIS/VIT and 25% energy reduction on all spells and abilities for 1 minute. Avatar of the Spirit Warrior â€“ gives Defensive Target +100 STR/DEX/CON/VIT and 25% Endurance cost reduction for all abilities for 1 minute. At this point we have covered pretty much all of the Shaman abilities. What we have not discussed yet are â€œstancesâ€, know to Shaman as Spirit Bonds. There were originally 3 Spirit Bonds and one â€œun-bondedâ€ state. Anyone that played a Shaman at launch of really prior to GU6 (or there about) will remember Shaman working that way. The unbonded stance was changed to Mien of the Mystic, which is now what most Shaman refer to as â€œhealing stanceâ€. Mien of the Mystic â€“ healing effectiveness +20% Spirit Bond of Skamadiz â€“ increase melee damage by 15%, adds a chance to drain life from an enemy when attacking and increases Physical resistance Spirit Bond of Krigus â€“ reduces cost of all spells and abilities by 15%, adds a damage shield that can disease the enemy when attacked (* this ability can cause problems for bards trying to re-mez mobs that like to smack Shaman for healing!) Spirit Bond of Nag-Suul â€“ increases spell damage by 25% and adds a chance to proc poison on attack. So now you know what your abilities are, now you just have decide how to build your Shaman! When looking at the skills each patron gains in their Patron form you can start to understand what the general idea behind each is, and how to build to their strengths. The Hayatet is designed after the Sorcerer, the Rakurr after the Rogue, and the Tuurgin after a Warrior. Once you see what is gained it is easy to understand how a pet that does not even come close to compensating for the gains of Patron form winds up collecting dust. All patron forms include an increase to HP and Energy regeneration. Hayatet â€“ Wings of Hayatet (III) - +30 Fire resistance, +20% increase to Fire damage, +8% chance to crit on Fire spells, +5% melee mitigation, permanent levitation (non-annoying, no â€œice-skatingâ€ lev) Rakurr â€“ Skin of Rakurr (III) - +18% melee dmg, +12% melee crit, +12% melee evasion, +70% run speed gain the ability of Hunterâ€™s Shroud (stealth, only available while in patron form, Rakurr also gets hide and sneak ability points) Tuurgin â€“ Skin of Tuurgin - +25% melee dmg, +5% melee mitigation, +88 STR/CON, +900 AC There are many different ways to build a Shaman, and each Patron is going to be a little different. Try to always keep in mind that while you are very versatile as a Shaman, you will usually be expected to heal as your primary role. If you are not ready for this and donâ€™t build accordingly you will find yourself struggling. Some folks may build for pure DPS, and you can have great success with that, however after the infamous damage fix, the returns of that build are very, very diminished and your healing ability will be seriously hindered which may find you being left out of many a raid or group. I would only suggest a pure DPS build today for a static group where the Shaman will not be expected to be the main healer. As a healer I would strongly suggest that VIT be your primary concern as it not only increases the effectiveness of your heals but boosts your energy regen. For Tuurgin and Rakurr, STR will always be a concern for boosting melee damage, but be careful not to neglect other important stats. Some folks will find that boosting INT over STR will actually provide more DPS by increasing your nukes and DoTâ€™s substantially, the problem with this of course is that the more energy you spend nuking, the less you have for healing. A Hayatet can get away with greater INT simply by having Acuity at their disposal, not to mention the fact that the vast majority of their damage comes from spell casting, thus INT for a Hayatet has much greater return than for any other patron. In the end the way you build is best left up to you and your play style, but remember this, you will always be forced to choose on every fight whether you want to be an excellent healer or a solid DPS. Until (if) the class gets some much needed fixes you can only every really excel at one of the other, never being great at both at the same time. I wish that was not the case, but right now it is. That being said, I have tried a pure DPS build on my Rakurr, with a STR/DEX/VIT build, carrying both flawless cavalierâ€™s and prophetâ€™s sets, and found that while the damage (pre-dmg fix) was excellent, the lack of mana pool made main healing a raid tank impossible, relegating me to spot healing only. The problem with that is that today, after the damage fix, you will find yourself still at the lower end of the melee DPS and your spot would be better filled with either a pure healer or a pure melee DPS, depending on the rest of the raid make up. Also keep in mind that a Rakurr is much more reliant on other players than the other patrons. Tuurgin have their own endurance buff which allows them to sustain their special attacks much longer than a Rakurr in a group or solo situation, and Hayatet can maintain their energy much better with Acuity. My personal suggestion for a main healer build would be to focus on VIT first, followed by WIS. This maximizes your mana pool, gets the most out of each heal, and helps you sustain your mana longer. For a tertiary stat I would put all my extra points into INT as a Hayatet, into STR with a little DEX as a Rakurr, and into STR with maybe some CON or INT for a Tuurgin. You can alter your stylefrom fight to fight as needed by carrying gear for different roles. Have some STR/DEX or INT gear if you want to DPS, and go with all that spiffy WIS/VIT and HF gear for healing. You will find that the APW set for Shaman is a hybrid set that has a little something to offer for each Patron. I would suggest that when you decide to start raiding you do some research and see which set pieces you might want, and what pieces are not as good as some other available drops for your patron. Shaman only get to use 3 types of weapons not including Throwing Spears (which can do very decent damage when skilled for those ranged attack only fights, also great for solo kiting), 1 handed blunt, 2 handed blunt, and 2 handed piercing, which essentially limits Shaman to staves, hammers, maces, spears and of course foci. Shaman do not get skill points for individual weapons like most classes do, so all of your damage is based on the skill for a weapon of that type. Shaman also do not have to fear having insufficient points to maximize any of your skills, you have enough to keep everything cappedâ€¦especially since you do not have ANY SPELL IDENTIFICATION AT ALL! Not that I am in the least bitter about thatâ€¦..You should now know about your abilities, heals, buffs, attacks, nukes, DoTs, debuffs, stances and weapons. You probably have all the information you need to go take your first spirit walk! Below I will offer a few tips from my personal play style and maybe down the road I will expand the strategy section, but for now I will keep it fairly brief. Strategies â€“ I will be mostly speaking about strategies in a raid situation, though most of them apply for your average group as well. When healing my primary concern is generally to keep Aegis of Life on the main tank at all times. When assigned to the main tank I look to get Aegis cast as soon as possible. This is actually very tricky because Aegis of Life seems to draw massive amounts of heal agro, so be sure to wait until your MT has some hate built up or you may find yourself taking a dirt nap quickly. It is important to maintain your agro as a healer because even if you can take the hit, any time the target is not attacking the MT, the raid is not optimal. No one cares how cool you think you are because you can take a hit from Shiver. We would all much rather be bored to tears watching a raid mob smack on a Paladin or DK or Warrior all night long. Call me crazy but I like to kill mobs a lot and not die so much. Once I have Aegis cast I will base my healing on who my assignment is (MT, ST, spot heals, etc.) and yes I will alter my healing as needed from tank to tank. Some tanks get hit harder than others, some tanks will heal themselves before you have time to react now and then so you need to save your mana. The number and type of other healers assigned to the same target as me will also play into my healing. I am less likely to spam big heals on a target that hits slower or not as hard, or when there are 4 or 5 other healers on the same tank. Often, if I am assigned to a secondary tank but only the MT is getting attacked I will use smaller, faster heals to fill in the gaps the other healers have between casts. You really have to play your heals by ear, adjusting on a case by case basis. It is important to learn how to constantly replenish mana on a long fight as well. If I know the fight will be lengthy or mana intensive I will hit Gift of Bosrid at the start and use RoSac after every heal whenever possible. A Hayatet can potentially heal indefinitely like this provided they are able to keep Aegis up at almost all times, but sometimes things happen and you just donâ€™t have that luxury. Regen takes a lot of practice, but in time you can master the art and make every Cleric drool! For group healing my â€œgo toâ€ ability is Life Ward, using Ancestorâ€™s gift only when I really have to. I also like to use Intercession for those times when I know a big AE is coming. One of my favorite uses for Intercession is on Mechanized Pyromaniacs when they catch fire. Next to a nice Pally group invuln it is the best way to keep your party alive. As soon as they â€œcatch on fireâ€ I pop it off and usually nobody dies. It also comes in handy for Storm of Swords during an Exalted X99 fight, followed by a life ward, I can generally keep my party alive without taking too much time away from the MT and without spending too much energy. The biggest issue with Intercession is the long refresh time. Panacea is your friend! This is the closest thing you have to an â€œoh shit!â€ heal, learn to use it, but be careful it has a nasty 30 second refresh and that diminished return can bite you in the arse! I also suggest making a macro to target yourself and cast panacea for those times you take agro from a big nasty meanie. Panacea also comes in handy when you need to do a combat rez, it buys you a little piece of time to squeeze that long cast in. Make sure you have you Purge, Remove Curse, ad Wardship of Krigus handy as the deeper you go into APW the more those poisons and diseases start to hurt. Shield of Mortality and Spirits are great, as long as you have someone to tell you that a spiritual or physical spell is coming, and hopefully you have time to get it off after receiving the warning vie Ventrilo. Manâ€¦ did you ever think it might be a good time to have some SPELL IDENTIFICATION ABILITY? Hmmmâ€¦. Typically, when a fight starts I try to get Curse of Frailty and Lethargy up as soon as possible. I generally open my melee attacks with Hammer of Krigus to get my auto attack kicked on then quickly cast Kiss of Nag-Suul then hit with Bite of Nag-Suul (except on physical healed mobs where both of these abilities are bad!) then go into my normal ability cycle, trying to refresh the larger DoTâ€™s (Kiss of Nag-Suul, Bane of Krigus, Throat Rip) whenever possible. I will usually use Throat Rip on my Rakurr every time it comes up as it has a long refresh time and does excellent damage when used properly. Most other times I will spam Fist of Earth as my melee finisher, saving Spear of the Ancestors for the times it is needed most. I hate to waste the 40 END regen for 45 seconds when I have full END. I also make it a point to use Tearing Claw, followed by Vicious Bite (remember to be behind the mob!) as much as possible as well. For Hayatet Shaman they wonâ€™t generally melee as much with their vast arsenal of nukes, but they can do some fairly nice damage at times, though their abilities are not doing nearly as much damage as they should be, and hopefully they will get fixed soon. That about sums up this â€œguideâ€ right now, I am sure I will add to it and make changes as things get fixed or altered. By no means is this post to be taken as any sort of gospel, it is simply a run down of Shaman abilities and a few pointers from my own personal experience, I strongly encourage everyone to find their own way to maximize their Shaman experience! Category:Class Guides